Danforth to meet Davidian lawyers

Posted: Wednesday, September 22, 1999

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The special counsel investigating a possible Waco cover-up is asking for information from the lawyers who are suing the government on behalf of survivors. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to expand their own inquiry to other Justice Department controversies.

And Sen. Arlen Specter, who would lead the proposed Senate investigation, is considering hiring the former federal prosecutor who publicly disagreed with Attorney General Janet Reno over investigations into Democratic fund-raising abuses during the 1996 elections.

Charles LaBella, who left the Justice Department earlier this year after disagreeing with Reno over whether to appoint an independent counsel in the campaign matter, would be lead investigator for a five-member bipartisan task force on Waco proposed by Senate Republicans, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, confirmed. Grassley, who also would sit on the task force, voiced concern that LaBella's hiring could taint an inquiry that will focus largely on Reno's stewardship of the Justice Department.

"On the positive side, he knows where all the skeletons are," Grassley said in an interview, a few days after he said Specter approached him with the idea. "On the negative side, it could send a signal that there is a preconceived notion about the FBI and the Justice Department."